Month: September 2014

I have gotten a lot of questions on what I think a person should put on their baby registry. I could honestly write a book on this subject, considering we have Irish Twins, and for two years straight we were immersed in baby items. Even now, in some sense, we are still very much involved in baby world. I’ll try and split the posts in between certain categories. But let me put a disclaimer on this: We have chosen to raise our boys one way, and we realize it’s not to everyone’s liking.

I’ll begin with sleep items:

1. We chose to have our boys sleep in our room until we felt it was time to transition them to their own room. Now, let’s be real on this subject. It was when hubby was ready. I never was. I was always nervous. This little gem was amazing, I wish I had this when baby K was here. I’ll get to what we had him sleep in, which was just as great, but with G’s acid reflux, this was better!

This is the Fisher and Price Snugabunny Rock n’ Play

I honestly cannot remember what we paid for it, but it was around $45.00 I believe.

Here is why I love this item. It is easily mobile. Wanna go somewhere? Easy, pack this in your cars trunk. It literally is pushing a button and closing it simultaneously. It’s light. Like I mentioned earlier, G had terrible reflux. So he would spew. All the time. And when he spewed, it could reach distances you wouldn’t even think possible! This sucker was easy to clean up. It also allows your nugget to sleep inclined, which is said to help with reflux. G loved it from day 1. Also, it can hold up to 25 lbs. Every baby is different, but I feel like that gives you ample time to get your baby transitioned into his or her crib long before they outgrow this. G slept in this until he was 4 months old. I would often lean over from where I was laying in bed, and rock him slowly to sleep if he was fussy. Life saver!

2. Here is what baby K slept in until he was almost 5 months old. I loved this because it had the diaper changing station right next to it. So much so that we brought the one that my parents bought over to our house right after both boys were born. We kept one downstairs, and one upstairs. You change a lot of diapers in the night, at least we did before we fed them, so it was nice to have it all right there. The bassinet made him feel secure, and it was slightly upright. One thing to note about the diaper changer is we had summer babies so with air conditioning it would get a bit chilly on their little backs and bums while we were changing them on the changer. Other than that we used this for two years straight.

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3. White noise machines for us are a blessing. I know, I know, they are so controversial, but here is why WE chose to use them. In our first house where K was raised until he was almost 1. We lived near a busy road, which often was loud. His room also faced the street, two houses down from a daycare that was built in Pleasantville. Need I say more? Screaming? Not even close, more like shrieking mixed with murder. Also, for some reason this lovely daycare loved to use the field our HOA had across from his room. Also, we knew right before he was 4 months old baby G would be welcoming us. We did not know we would be buying a new house at the time… therefore our lovely boys would be sharing adjacent walls. Meaning, if one is screaming, chances are, the other would too. So, I opted for a sound machine. Another reason we liked the sound machine was that it had a built in light, but dimmer than any night light we could find on the market. Blue tends to go easy on closed eyes. Graco has this lovely sound machine that ran for 19 months with K, and is still running strong in G’s room.

Let’s move onto why we had 2 sound machines in the boys’ rooms. We live near this small airport, which surprisingly loud, and on many occasion has woken our sleeping beaus. Also, while sleep training G, it was imperative one did not wake the other and vice versa. Also, I’m not sure if it was because our second house was new construction, but within the first few months of living here, we lost power three times. So I needed something during the day that had a backup in terms of power (batteries). This was also nice for camping. For $20, you cannot beat it. One still works, and one is gone.

After our amazing Graco went out, I wanted something nice for our now toddler. K was old enough to where I felt he needed something nicer and maybe not so babyish sounding. He didn’t need the heartbeat sounds and what not. But we do have neighbor kids that like to scream ( who doesn’t when they are young)… so this helps drown out the noise.

And finally, the big one… beds. What did we choose for nursery schemes and what not? Well, I can say, I am one of those people who with the first baby went ALL out. With the second baby, I went mostly all out. So with baby K, we bought the Sorelle Verona Crib in Espresso. Pricey, yes. Sturdy. Hell to the yes. Our furniture is not as nice as this stuff. Also, I am all of 5’3, and I knew that little bow in the front would help me out when laying him down. I will say one thing too, I have since then remade all of his bedding as he’s outgrown the baby stuff. His matters has not given us any problems, as we purchased the 2 in 1 mattress. The type to flip over from infant to toddler.

With G I wanted white. I would have spent the same, except we could not find a crib that we like that wasn’t too girly. Seriously, I was so mad at all the cute girly stuff we kept finding. So we went with the Da Vinci Kalani crib. We did however choose Ikea furniture, and not the matching set. And we couldn’t be happier.

4. Blankets. Don’t believe in them until probably 13…14 months. My hubby and I are BIIIIIG swaddles. Why? Well, anyone who has ever had a newborn can attest to the fact that not all newborns are comfortable with their new hands and arms. Baby K was swaddled until he was probably 5 or 6 months old. Don’t’ worry we took one arm out long before that. And G was swaddle up until 4 months. So, K liked the Swaddleme brands. G Halo. But after the 5 month rule, hands down, we have gone with the Halo brand. I can hear any new parent now saying “well it’s okay because they taught me how to swaddle”. Yeah, good luck with that. If you have ninjas like mine… don’t buy a receiving blanket, ever… These will save your life. Trust us.

Once they are bigger, buy the next size up. Why? Because you don’t have to worry about them being cold!! It also stops them from climbing out of the crib. Amazing right?

5. Heat/Air sources

Have you caught on that we are crazy. And by we, I mean ME? Yes, I do have heaters for their rooms, and yes I do have AC for their rooms. Why? I once thought about the conditions I like to sleep in. I can’t sleep if it’s really loud, too hot, too cold, etc. So why would I ever expect my babies to? So in the winter I put nice plug in heaters in their rooms. In the summer, I install room AC units in their windows, with timers. Oh, and what temperature do they like? I’ve noticed 68-73 seems to be just about right. I don’t fret too much, but I know I can’t sleep when it’s too hot or too cold. Mr. K can’t sleep if he’s hot… ever.

We often receive a lot of flack over our boys sleep. It’s the one thing we won’t bend on. Why? Well our kids have slept on their own since day 1. We have had days where they have been cuddled in bed. They sleep 12+ hours at night. They were both exclusively breast fed (EBF) K was for 6 months and we had to Formula feed due to pregnancy. And G was until 13 months. They were given pacifiers. We don’t have all the answers but our kids have yet to end up in our beds, they take long naps, and we have time for ourselves in the middle of the day if given that opportunity.